[New-Poetry] Why Bly

[David Graham]

On Nov 3, 2006, at 11:28 AM, Helen Ruggieri wrote:

> I'll second Writing the Australian Crawl and add in (why do people  
> dislike him these days)
> Robert Bly's News of the Universe.
============

Oh, people have *always* disliked Robert Bly!  Probably goes back to  
the 1950s, and his journal of that name, in which he fairly  
mercilessly skewered many famous poets.  And then his long-time habit  
of doing readings for creative writing programs while ridiculing such  
programs incessantly.  (And failing to mention his own M.F.A.)

But there are many other reasons, including some fairly silly  
pronouncements over the years, some dubious liberties taken in  
translations, and (of course) his relatively recent status as best- 
selling author.

But I've always enjoyed Bly greatly, and think that his poetry is  
getting even better as he ages.  I've taught *News of the Universe* a  
number of times; while his literary and social history sometimes  
needs to be taken with a grain of salt, his taste in poetry is really  
fine.  Whatever you think of his own poetry, I'd say he's a brilliant  
editor.  His editions of William Stafford and David Ignatow, for  
instance--they each do a masterful job of separating wheat from chaff.



==========================================
David Graham
grahamd at ripon.edu
Home Page:
http://www.ripon.edu/faculty/GrahamD/index.html
Poetry Library:
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